John Davison Rockefeller, IV

Compiled by the West Virginia State Archives

June 18, 1937 -
(D) Kanawha County
Elected governor in 1976 & 1980

John Davison Rockefeller, IV was born in New York City, the
great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller and the nephew of
New York Governor and United States Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller. After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard
University, the International Christian University, and Yale
University, he was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the
National Advisory Council of the Peace Corps in 1961. He worked for
a brief time in the United States Department of Far Eastern
Affairs. Rockefeller first came to West Virginia in 1964. As part
of the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), he volunteered as
a social worker at Emmons, Boone County. In 1966, Rockefeller broke
from his family's long tradition of Republican loyalty and ran
successfully for the House of Delegates as a Democrat. Two years
later, he was elected Secretary of State. After losing the 1972
gubernatorial election to incumbent Arch Moore, Rockefeller
accepted the presidency of West Virginia Wesleyan College in
Buckhannon, Upshur County. In the 1976 gubernatorial election, he
defeated former Republican Governor Cecil Underwood.

As governor, Rockefeller promoted the state's energy resources
and chaired the President's Commission on Coal. He cut the size of
state government and dealt with the issues of inflation, fuel
shortages, a lengthy coal strike, floods, and the effects of two
severe winters. The legislature established the Department of
Corrections, Department of Health, Department of Culture and
History, and the Office of Economic and Community Development. The
Rockefeller administration constructed a record number of secondary
roads.

In 1984, Rockefeller was elected to the United States Senate. He
was re-elected in 1990 and 1996. In the Senate, he has been active
with West Virginia's trade delegation to Japan, a supporter of
health care reform, and an advocate for veterans' benefits. In 2013, he announced he would not run for re-election in 2014.